Archives for September 2010

Like many other states across the country, Missouri is fighting meth with computers. Governor Jay Nixon said a new database will connect 13 hundred pharmacies across the state to tell police who’s buying pseudoephedrine and where they’re buying it. Law enforcement officials say the cold medication is the main ingredient in making methamphetamine and that many who make meth know they can’t just go buy a dozen boxes of pseudoephedrine at one place at one time, so they break it up. They buy a box here and one there. The new system will tell police who’s buying the drug and where so police can stop them from making methamphetamine.

The AG recouped a lot of money for Missouri Medicaid. Attorney General Chris Koster said Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation will repay the Missouri Medicaid program 5.5 million dollars. A release from Koster’s office said its part of a national settlement after Novartis was accused of illegal kickbacks. Koster said Novartis quote — “operated outside the law to profit at the expense of Missouri taxpayers and those who need the state’s Medicaid services.” Koster said that throughout the country, state medicaid paid for about four drugs for which Novartis could not prove that they actually worked.

Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer voted to support a proposal that would kill the Troubled Asset Relief Program — commonly known as TARP. The measure was suggested through the YouCut website and was also part of the “A Pledge to America.” Luetkemeyer says “taxpayers have been demanding that the bailouts stop.”

Superintendent Patrick Williams wants Kirksville schools to do even better in the state accreditation process. In the latest measure, the district passed with distinction for the 10th consecutive year — passing all 14 categories. Kirksville was at least average in areas including attendance, graduation rates and test scores. But Williams notes the district was in the second tier in four categories. And administrators are working to improve performance in those categories.

It’s homecoming weekend at Kirksville High School. This year’s theme is “Lights, Camera, Action.” There will be a pep rally at 2 o’clock in the gym, a homecoming parade in downtown Kirksville at 4. And Kirksville plays Fulton at 7pm. The finale will be a dance beginning at 9 o’clock.

A funeral procession route for Petty Officer 2nd Class Adam Smith has been made public. The funeral will be held Saturday beginning a 1 o’clock a the First baptist Church on Rutherford Street. The procession will leave the church going south on Jackson, turning east on Vine Street to Highway 63. It will then head north on 63, turning on Highway 36 to Bevier. Smith was a Navy SEAL. He was killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

A rash of phony 20-dollar bills in Memphis. Police says local merchants have turned in 4-bogus bills. They’ve been turned over to the Secret Service — the federal law enforcement agency responsible for catching counterfeiters. Cops are not sure if the fake 20’s were make locally or just passed in Memphis by a counterfeiter passing through.

Governor Jay Nixon announces a program to help Missouri families affected by developmental disabilities. A combination of federal, state and local money will be pooled to provide community-based support services to nearly 500 people with disabilities. The governor says with this program for those with disabilities will be able to stay in their homes instead of being put in expensive institutional or residential care.

The Callao City clerk has been sentenced to prison for stealing from the city. The US attorney’s office in St Louis said in a release today that Lou Ann Allred will spend a year and a day in prison, three years on supervised release and pay almost 126 thousand dollars back to the city. Court documents indicate that Allred received cash payments for city services, gave customers receipts, but did not deposit the payments into the city’s bank account — she wrote herself checks for the money and forged the mayor’s name on the checks. The court said Allred carried out the illegal practices for about four years.

An Adair County man will do eight years on a domestic assault charge. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said today an Adair County jury found Jimmie D. Head of Brashear, Missouri, guilty after hearing testimony that he had beaten his wife in the face and body and had threatened to kill her. This was Head’s sixth felony conviction, and he was sentenced as a persistent offender.